2024 NBA Season and Playoffs

[ozgod]

What happened after the Bucks Pacers game was hilarious…Giannis was looking for the game ball because he had scored 64 pts and apparently the Pacers had absconded with it.

they claimed that they were keeping it because their rookie Oscar Tshiebwe had scored his first NBA point with it, but apparently they took exception to him being subbed back into the game to break the  Bucks record, which he did by dunking the ball and doing his nostrils flared Incredible Hulk pose while up by 10 with 30 sec to go (broke on of them unwritten rules).

So Giannis chased them into their locker room but he couldn’t get in and he had to settle for what they said was really the game ball but he said wasn’t 

Video in the link https://youtu.be/DiJXfx4ZGpA

Edit: Giannis is claiming he only wanted the game ball so he could give it to Dame who passed Kyle Korver for 5th on the all time list…likely story 

[Ed Monix]

[Who]

Wow, Houston with the 4th best lineup.

[tazzmaniac]

Wow, Houston with the 4th best lineup.

The list is filtered on 200+ min which excludes all but 9 lineups across the NBA.   So Houston is 4th best out of 9. 

[Who]

Wow, Houston with the 4th best lineup.

The list is filtered on 200+ min which excludes all but 9 lineups across the NBA.   So Houston is 4th best out of 9.

Ahh, okay. Good to know.

[tazzmaniac]

Wow, Houston with the 4th best lineup.

The list is filtered on 200+ min which excludes all but 9 lineups across the NBA.   So Houston is 4th best out of 9.

Ahh, okay. Good to know.

Dropping the filter down to 150+ min only adds 5 lineups and puts Houston's lineup at 6th out of 14.  The Kings (H. Barnes - D. Sabonis - D. Fox - K. Huerter - K. Murray) at 12.2 NetRtg and Sixers (N. Batum - T. Harris - J. Embiid - D. Melton - T. Maxey) at 23.6 NetRtg jump into the top 5.

Dropping to 100+ min makes it 32 total lineups.  Of the additional lineups, only Indy (M. Turner - B. Hield - B. Brown - O. Toppin - T. Haliburton) at 19.4 NetRtg is better than Houston.  So Houston would be 7th out of 32. 

[gift]

Even Ron Artest never seemed as reckless. All he had was Malice At The Palace. And then that year when he swung his elbow at James Harden's head (probably that's why Harden is the way he is nowadays).

Draymond Green...sheesh you hear his name every other week swinging elbows or playing linebacker on the basketball court

Artest also broke MJ's ribs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tisa2Fj-jmA). But I generally agree he was a different thing. Very physical, flirting with dirty in a different era.

Draymond is just an emotional outburst in a jersey, a tantrum child on a team full of enablers. He's an undisciplined outlier in this era. He should've been dealt with long ago.

[greg683x]

A lot of people are upset about this around here

They were taking calls about this on sports radio yesterday and it nearly turned into an ugly political debate between callers and DJs.

It’s far from a done deal though

[radiohead]

What happened after the Bucks Pacers game was hilarious…Giannis was looking for the game ball because he had scored 64 pts and apparently the Pacers had absconded with it.

they claimed that they were keeping it because their rookie Oscar Tshiebwe had scored his first NBA point with it, but apparently they took exception to him being subbed back into the game to break the  Bucks record, which he did by dunking the ball and doing his nostrils flared Incredible Hulk pose while up by 10 with 30 sec to go (broke on of them unwritten rules).

So Giannis chased them into their locker room but he couldn’t get in and he had to settle for what they said was really the game ball but he said wasn’t 

Video in the link https://youtu.be/DiJXfx4ZGpA

Edit: Giannis is claiming he only wanted the game ball so he could give it to Dame who passed Kyle Korver for 5th on the all time list…likely story 

That was ridiculous indeed. You have to wonder if Giannis gets fined by the league. He was acting so aggressively that it could have escalated into something bigger. Good thing Haliburton and the pacers officials kept their cool.

[Celtics2021]

What happened after the Bucks Pacers game was hilarious…Giannis was looking for the game ball because he had scored 64 pts and apparently the Pacers had absconded with it.

they claimed that they were keeping it because their rookie Oscar Tshiebwe had scored his first NBA point with it, but apparently they took exception to him being subbed back into the game to break the  Bucks record, which he did by dunking the ball and doing his nostrils flared Incredible Hulk pose while up by 10 with 30 sec to go (broke on of them unwritten rules).

So Giannis chased them into their locker room but he couldn’t get in and he had to settle for what they said was really the game ball but he said wasn’t 

Video in the link https://youtu.be/DiJXfx4ZGpA

Edit: Giannis is claiming he only wanted the game ball so he could give it to Dame who passed Kyle Korver for 5th on the all time list…likely story 

That was ridiculous indeed. You have to wonder if Giannis gets fined by the league. He was acting so aggressively that it could have escalated into something bigger. Good thing Haliburton and the pacers officials kept their cool.

He absolutely gets fined.  Probably avoids a suspension because I think that was a first for him.

[bdm860]

This Giannis thing is hilarious, I love it.  Love when teams/players are petty and salty against each other.  And this is either some top notch pettiness by the Pacers, or a huge misunderstanding which is hilarious considering how worked up Giannis got.

Going extra deep on this one.  The Pacers claim is they wanted the ball because it's supposedly customary to give a rookie the ball when he scores his first NBA points, and this was Oscar Tshiebwe first official point, hitting a single free throw.

But Tshiebwe already scored in the IST championship game (also by hitting a single free throw), but that doesn't count because that game doesn't count for any NBA stats. 

Then there's questions about who even has the official game ball.

And Giannis claims he wanted it for Dame (who become 5th all time on the 3 point list), but when he got the ball Dame refused it.  Ha.

Love that there's levels to this one.

[wiley]

Even Ron Artest never seemed as reckless. All he had was Malice At The Palace. And then that year when he swung his elbow at James Harden's head (probably that's why Harden is the way he is nowadays).

Draymond Green...sheesh you hear his name every other week swinging elbows or playing linebacker on the basketball court

Artest also broke MJ's ribs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tisa2Fj-jmA). But I generally agree he was a different thing. Very physical, flirting with dirty in a different era.

Draymond is just an emotional outburst in a jersey, a tantrum child on a team full of enablers. He's an undisciplined outlier in this era. He should've been dealt with long ago.

Didn't he knock out a Celtic in a playoff game?  Crowder?  I think he elbowed backwards and knocked on of our guys unconscious...

[Celtics2021]

Even Ron Artest never seemed as reckless. All he had was Malice At The Palace. And then that year when he swung his elbow at James Harden's head (probably that's why Harden is the way he is nowadays).

Draymond Green...sheesh you hear his name every other week swinging elbows or playing linebacker on the basketball court

Artest also broke MJ's ribs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tisa2Fj-jmA). But I generally agree he was a different thing. Very physical, flirting with dirty in a different era.

Draymond is just an emotional outburst in a jersey, a tantrum child on a team full of enablers. He's an undisciplined outlier in this era. He should've been dealt with long ago.

Didn't he knock out a Celtic in a playoff game?  Crowder?  I think he elbowed backwards and knocked on of our guys unconscious...

Crowder was hurt by JR Smith.

[RodyTur10]

Currently the top 12 in VORP (source: https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2024_advanced.html) in the East is as follows, in order:

G Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers) 1.1
B Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) 1.1
G Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia 76ers) 1.0
F Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics) 0.9
G Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers) 0.9
F Scottie Barnes (Toronto Raptors) 0.9
B Kristaps Porzingis (Boston Celtics) 0.7
F Jimmy Butler (Miami Heat) 0.5
G Derrick White (Boston Celtics) 0.5
G Jrue Holiday (Boston Celtics) 0.5
F Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) 0.5
B Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat) 0.4

Interestingly four Celtics. Don't care much for all star selections, but if this continues we should see a green colored all star team.

Because I believe a prestigious All Star selection shouldn't be based on popularity, status, fan base or history, I'm continuing this overview with two advanced stats which i.m.o. show merit and are more grounded on actual performances. I simply added up EW based on EPM (source: https://dunksandthrees.com/epm) plus 2*VORP (source: https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2024_advanced.html#header).

There's actually incredible overlap with these two stats. With 9 guys in the East and 10 guys in the West who made top 12 on both charts, thus deserving a selection. Overall the West is deeper, perhaps not a surprise. Six teams have been awarded with two selections (Lakers, 76ers, Thunder, Suns, Bucks, Celtics). In bold the All Star starters, which luckily works out really well with the two guards + three forwards concept. I also included the reserves.

In the East Randle scored good on EW, but less on VORP. While Butler and Porzingis did well in VORP, but not enough EW. For Porzingis it's due to not enough minutes played. In the West we can say that George is a snub as a cause of the star power in the West and Sabonis did good in VORP, but a lot less in EW.

What news does this bring? Well, Barnes and Maxey are first timers and immediately start! Also Brunson, White and Bridges make their first selection. In the Western Conference it's Leonard with a comeback and young influx with Holmgren, Bane and Sengun.

EAST

Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) 10,1
Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) 9,3
Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers) 8,0
Scottie Barnes (Toronto Raptors) 7,7
Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia 76ers) 6,5
Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics) 5,9
Trae Young (Atlanta Hawks) 5,9
Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers) 5,8
Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks) 4,8
Damian Lillard (Milwaukee Bucks) 4,8
Derrick White (Boston Celtics) 4,8
Mikal Bridges (Brooklyn Nets) 4,7

Julius Randle (New York Knicks) 4,4
Jimmy Butler (Miami Heat) 4,0
Pascal Siakam (Toronto Raptors) 4,0
Franz Wagner (Orlando Magic) 3,9
Kristaps Porzingis (Boston Celtics) 3,8

WEST

Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets) 12,9
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder) 10,2
LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) 9,3
Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks) 8,7
Anthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers) 7,6
Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors) 7,0
Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns) 6,8
Kawhi Leonard (Los Angeles Clippers) 6,5
Chet Holmgren (Oklahoma City Thunder) 5,2
Desmond Bane (Memphis Grizzlies) 5,2
Alperen Sengun (Houston Rockets) 5,1
Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns) 5,1

Paul George (Los Angeles Clippers) 5,0
Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento Kings) 4,7
Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves) 4,3
Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves) 4,2
De'Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings) 4,2
Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans) 4,0
Fred VanVleet (Houston Rockets) 3,8
Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves) 3,8

[angryguy77]

Giannis really showed the nice guy act is just that, an act.

Can't stand him